Posted by BJ​On a recent five-day trip to Austria, via London, the luggage of my sister-in-law Mary and niece Betsy was lost. Though they were told by the airline that it had been found at Heathrow and were being sent on to them, it never arrived. Further inquiries to the airline resulted in them being told the luggage was lost and that the airline had “written them off.”

When coming back through Heathrow, with only a short time before her flight was due to depart, Mary, determined to find her luggage if possible, made some inquiries and was directed to a room within the terminal. As she told me afterwards, “I was directed into the ‘bowels’ of the terminal, down a long dimly lit passage to a much less than inviting room with a sign on the door that read, ‘Do NOT come here looking for lost luggage.’

At the counter sat two stone faced women who did not appear at all happy to have someone disregard their sign. I sheepishly told them I was looking for my lost luggage. One of the women begrudgingly took my slip of paper and with a grunt informed me I took look on the shelves if I wanted to but not to expect to find my luggage. Betsy and I entered a huge warehouse with several rows of shelves at least five or six shelves high. There were at least a thousand bags, of all shapes, sizes and variety, the majority of them being black and without much in the way of identifying marks. Bags were two and three deep on each shelf. It was utter disarray.

Betsy and I looked for some 30 minutes or so and, as it was approaching the time we needed to get back to the gate I said to Betsy, “Well, I don’t see them.” Right as I said that she said, “I see mine.”

Unlike the majority of the bags in the room, Betsy’s bag is bright pink. A small corner of it was just visible behind a couple of other bags and Betsy spotted it. Fortunately, the 3 other bags were nearby and Mary and Betsy quickly located them.

So, if the next time you see me at an airport or hotel and you notice my bag has been spray painted with pink polka dots, you’ll know why.​